


Don't Forget

by daintylemonsquare



Category: Dalton Academy Series
Genre: Drunken Confessions, Drunken Kissing, Fluff, M/M, hangovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:27:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28442409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daintylemonsquare/pseuds/daintylemonsquare
Summary: Julian woke up with a hangover and a few regrets. One in particular involved one of his closest friends.
Relationships: Julian Larson-Armstrong/Clark Sawyer
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	Don't Forget

The morning had long passed when Julian woke up with a headache that kicked and screamed into his skull for him to get a glass of water. He groaned as he rolled over with a pillow on his head. When that didn’t work, he rolled the opposite way. That was when the rest of his body protested with torches and pitchforks. It started with his bladder. Then his stomach. Then the back of his neck. Then his wrist. Flashes of the night before careened behind his throbbing eyes. Only bits and pieces. He couldn’t see much more. All he could think about was how he needed to use the bathroom.

He dragged himself upward, thankful for the blackout curtains. He was in the manor. The Haven manor. He wasn’t sure if he’d left or if there was a second car ride that somehow circled back here. He had a blurry memory of him leaving a place and going to a different place. He knew it was the manor when he got to the bathroom and found the tub that was covered in a rainbow of broken bath bombs that shimmered in the low light. He didn’t bother looking at the mirror. He already felt horrendous. No need for confirmation.

He stared at the toilet, wondering which end everything was coming out of. He decided on the lower half. He spent an eternity on it, head in his hands. He might’ve dozed off a little bit but the nausea kept him from tumbling over.

Once he was done, hands washed, then water splashed to his face just to feel less like bad decisions, then a little bit of a drink from the tap, he stumbled back into the bed. He kicked his shoes off before falling back in. There was another body in it. Whoever it was snorted and continued hogging the blanket. Julian covered his head with a pillow. His head was still throbbing and a few bruises had made themselves known underneath his clothes. He bit down on the inside of his mouth to make sure he didn’t vomit and swore to his body that everything was going to better when he woke up the second time. He watched the memories flit by in his closed eyes. Each scene was jumbled and cut together like those crack YouTube compilations. Still, as far as he could remember, the night was one worth the hangover.

Then the memories screeched to a stop when it landed on a scene where he stole a kiss that he didn’t mean to steal. The one thing he was trying to avoid the moment he realized he was too drunk.

His bloodshot, dehydrated eyes shot open all the way.

That was why he left the party in the first place with a few faceless heads he couldn’t remember in his panic. He was drunk and he was dancing with a few people and Clark was there. He couldn’t be drunk around Clark. There was so much he wanted to say to Clark but didn’t want him to know. Then he left under the guise of going to a different party this group was going to. He drank more there to forget how close he was to spilling his pathetic little crush he had on one of his closest friends.

He groaned as he sat up. He called Clark when he was in the car driving him back to the manor. Clark helped him out of the car and then back to the manor.

“This is a more funner party anyway,” he slurred at Clark. “You’re here!”

And Clark just laughed at him.

He didn’t remember if Clark laughed when Julian pulled him into a kiss in the kitchen where they’d won a game against a different pair of faces that Julian couldn’t remember. He didn’t remember if people took pictures of that. He feared that those pictures were making their rounds on the internet now. Yet another worry that made him want to go back to the bathroom. He didn’t remember what came after that. Just the smell of chlorine and the momentary sight of a blue sky. They could’ve talked but that was so cloudy that it could’ve been a dream. Pain speared through the middle of his forehead, as if trying to remember deserved such a punishment.

That was probably his cue to run. He wasn’t equipped to handle a proper conversation with Clark about his feelings toward him. Thinking about it made him want to go back to the bathroom. He checked his pockets and before he could experience a meltdown, he found his phone on the bedside table. He could call for a car a block over. He wanted to text Logan and Derek to see if they were alright but that could wait for later. One thing at a time. Any more and he wasn’t getting out of his manor alive.

He grabbed his shoes and a pair of sunglasses he found on the floor on his way out.

There was a lot less broken glass than he remembered. The walls were stained with paint and glitter. Food littered the floor along with the confetti. His socks definitely stuck on some areas, but at least nothing was wet. There was a muted conversation in the kitchen and the beguiling smell of coffee and greasy food. It was likely that the people in that kitchen were Clark and Mikey. He crept as slow as he could, stepping over plastic cups and fallen pizza and anything else that would even so much as squelch underneath his weight. He was just about to reach the front door when someone called his name.

“Julian? Hey, you’re alive.” Julian turned stiffly to Clark, who was leaning on the frame of the kitchen entryway. Bright eyed and perfect after a long night of festivities. Then again, it was the middle of the afternoon, confirmed by how bright the foyer was even behind his pilfered sunglasses. “Breakfast?”

There was only one way out of this that Julian could pick out from the top of his head but it wasn’t going to work when they weren’t both drunk. Clark was unfortunately coherent the whole time. That meant he knew too much already. That meant he was going to force this conversation now rather than give Julian a chance to deflect for as long as he could. He could still drop the drunk excuse but that was flimsy at best without a way to manipulate the other side of the story. It would at least work for the media, if he wanted to use it.

His stomach lurched and his brain screamed at the same time. He reminded himself to worry about that another time. He needed to survive this one first.

“Sure,” he replied cautiously, wondering if Clark thought the last night was out of drunkenness and nothing else.

He approached and Clark betrayed little when he walked back into the disaster zone that was the kitchen. He drew the curtains when Julian entered. Julian took off the sunglasses though the diffused light still flicked at his aching head.

Clark gave him a tall glass of orange juice and a bowl of ramen straight out of a pot on the stove. “It’s all I have. Mikey’s not here to make us a better meal. He’s…preoccupied with your friend.”

Julian almost choked on the orange juice. “Derek?”

Clark laughed. “No. Logan.”

“Oh… well…” Julian was too hungover to think about that. “Are they...?”

“Last I checked.”

“Still?”

“I’m surprised you didn’t hear how much creaking was happening on your way down here,” Clark said.

Julian didn’t reply. He chugged the orange juice and his body’s noise eased somewhat. He looked at the ramen. Clark placed a stool beside him and took a stool for himself. Julian sat as Clark did. They were silent.

“About last night…” Julian said. “I don’t remember a lot…”

“Let me stop you right there,” Clark said. “Before you say anything, I know you were drunk out of your shoes and I can’t really look too deep into what you do during a party like that.” He paused and stared into space, turning the glass of juice in his hands on the counter.

“Sorry.” Julian sighed, bracing himself for the “I still like you as a friend” conversation that Clark no doubt had enough time to prepare for. Julian wasn’t. All he had was a bowl of ramen and a hangover. “I hope this doesn’t make anything weird between us.”

“No, no…of course not.” Clark reached over and squeezed Julian’s shoulder.

“And I hope that was the only kiss I took. I don’t want you to think I’m like…predatory or whatever,” Julian continued. Clark laughed. He couldn’t help but smile himself and hit Clark on the chest with the back of his hand. “Shut up.”

“Julian, do you remember what you told me when we were watching the sun rise by the pool,” Clark asked.

Julian cringed but tried not to lose his appetite as he slurped up some ramen for comfort. “Something really sad and pathetic about being in love with you, I suppose?” He asked.

“There was nothing sad and pathetic about being in love,” Clark replied. “I thought it was really beautiful. You talked about how you felt and it was the most sincere and vulnerable I’d ever seen you outside of work. And I wish you were honest with me from the moment I knew. It broke my heart when you talked about how you hid it.”

“Easier said than done,” Julian muttered.

“Yeah, I know.” He leaned on his hand, propping it on the counter with his elbow. “Why do you look so afraid?”

“I’m not afraid,” Julian replied.

“Apprehensive?” Clark prodded. When Julian didn’t respond, Clark continued, “You know you’ve got nothing to be apprehensive about, right? Relax. Look at me?”

Julian looked at him and Clark smiled, so handsome it hurt. He was always so gentle with his words. Clark could never do anything to hurt him on purpose and that was what made this hurt more. He almost wanted Clark to be awful so he could let go of his feelings easier, so he wouldn’t have to deal with loving someone who so kindly rejected him and put a boundary in their relationship. But Clark wasn’t an awful man. That was one of the strongest forces that drew Julian in at first. They stared at each other in silence.

Clark broke it first. “We were on the pool, watching the sun rise. How much do you remember of that?”

“It feels like a dream than anything,” Julian answered.

“In a lot of ways, it was,” Clark said. “We were talking and laughing about the night and what you did when you left the manor the first time. Then the second time. Then we talked about the kiss. You told me about your feelings and you talked about how I made you feel. You were as articulate as you could’ve been. You called me a sunflower, it was cute.” Julian groaned. He didn’t remember it but it sounded like him while he was drunk and that was somehow worse. “It was cute! It wasn’t as bad as you think. I’ve read worse poetry. But then you told me how you knew I’d never want you back. That I was straight. And that you were afraid of fucking up our friendship by wanting more out of it while I did not. You tell me all that and I ask you ‘what makes you think I’m straight? I thought you were straight and I was wrong, wasn’t I?’ and then you laughed. You said ‘you’re not queer’ and I said ‘what if I am actually’ and then you said ‘prove it’ and I asked if I could kiss you. You laughed and we kissed. I didn’t mean to. I thought you were halfway sober by then so I thought it was alright. We kissed and it was as loud as the party and it felt like confetti was still falling on my face and my heart was pounding as much as it pounded when we were dancing together and I felt drunk with how much I felt. That was how the kiss felt for me. I feel bad that you don’t remember it.”

Julian was beside himself. His face burned like he took a nap on the beach without putting any sunscreen on. He stared at the ramen. His brain struggled to comprehend what Clark said. He strung the syllables together one by one and it didn’t seem real. A hand ghosted over his cheek and turned him back to Clark, who was leaning closer.

“Can I remind you?” Clark murmured.

Julian couldn’t do anything except nod.

**Author's Note:**

> Song I listened to on repeat while writing this:  
> New Year's Day by Taylor Swift


End file.
